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Mut {Goddess of the Week}

For now I decided to bring the Gods and Goddesses of the Day (or week) back, if they help and you enjoy them let me know and I'll keep it up, if not let me know as well since there's no use in doing them if they're not wanted. Also feel free to suggest any deities.

For those who don't know about the Gods and Goddesses of the day/week all it is is a thread explaining and listing resources for deities that there aren't many threads of or that aren't that well know. The threads can then be used for discussion and anything else.

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Shepenmut suggested Mut and since the Kemetic pantheon is the first in the cycle I'm using it! There also doesn't seem to be a thread dedicated to her.
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MUT

Patron of: the sky, mothers.
Appearance: A vulture-headed woman or a woman wearing a vulture for a crown.
Description: The very word Mut means "mother" and Mut was the great mother goddess of Egypt, even outranking Isis. Often Mut was believed to be a sort of grandmother figure, as Isis was the mother figure for the world. She was said to be the consort of Amun, and their son was the moon-god Khonsu.
The three formed a sort of heavenly family for their people. Each year a festival would be held celebrating the marriage of Amun and Mut. The high priest of Amun would lead a procession from Karnak to the temple at Luxor.
Worshipped: Amun, Mut and Khonsu were worshipped as a trinity in Luxor.
FROM: http://touregypt.net/godsofegypt/mut.htm

Mut (Maut) was the mother goddess, the queen of the gods at Waset (Thebes), arising in power with the god Amen. She came to represent the Eye of Ra, the ferocious goddess of retribution and daughter of the sun god Ra. Originally a local goddess, probably from the delta area, she became a national goddess during the New Kingdom and was adored at one of the most popular festivals at the time - the Festival of Mut.
She was either depicted as a woman, sometimes with wings, or a vulture, usually wearing the crowns of royalty - she was often shown wearing the double crown of Egypt or the vulture headdress of the New Kingdom queens. Later she was shown as woman with the head of a lioness, as a cow or as a cobra as she took on the attributes of the other Egyptian goddesses. The ancient Egyptian link between vultures and motherhood lead to her name being the ancient Egyptian word for mother - mwt
FROM: Mut, Mother Goddess of the New Kingdom, Wife of Amen, Vulture Goddess

In Art, Mut was pictured as a woman with the wings of a vulture, holding an ankh, wearing the united crown of Upper and Lower Egypt and also a dress of bright red/blue, with the feather of Maat at her feet. Alternatively, as a result of her assimilations, she is sometimes depicted as a cobra, a cat, a cow, or as a lioness. Some of Mut's titles included World-Mother, Eye of Ra, Queen of the Goddesses, Lady of Heaven, Mother of the Gods, and She Who Gives Birth, But Was Herself Not Born of Any.
FROM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mut

Symbols: Double Crown, vulture, cobra, lioness, queen
Cult Center: Thebes
Her name means "mother" and in many ways she was regarded by the Egyptians as the great "world mother," and mother of the pharaohs.
It appears that Mut was originally the female counterpart of Nun. However, in Thebes she replaced Amaunet to become the wife of the great god Amon. Her son was the local god of the moon, Khonsu. Together, the three formed the triad of Thebes that would dominate Egypt during the New Kingdom.
Mut is one of the few goddesses who were self-created. She was called, "Mut, who giveth birth, but was herself not born of any."
The goddess is usually portrayed as a woman wearing the united crowns (or Double Crown) of the North and the South. In her hands she holds the papyrus sceptre and the emblem of life, ankh. Other images show her as a woman standing upright. Her arms are stretched out at 90 degree angles to her body and have large wings attached to them. The feather of Ma'at is at her feet. Some portraits depict Mut with the heads of a man, a woman, a vulture and a lioness. She has a phallus, a pair of wings and the claws of a lion.
The center of her worship was a quarter of Thebes called Asher (Ashrel, Ashrelt, Isheru). Her temple, Het-Mut, was just south of that of Amen-Ra.
FROM: Mut

In the Unas texts, the following prayer is given:
"O Ra, be good to him on this day since yester-"day" {sic}
After this come the words;
"Unas hath had union "with the goddess Mut, Unas hath drawn unto himself the flame "of Isis, Unas hath united himself to the lotus," etc. The only mention of Mut in the Theban Recension Book of the Dead is found in a hymn to Osiris, which forms the clxxxiiird Chapter ; the deceased is made to say to the god, Thou risest up like an "exalted being upon thy standard, and thy beauties exalt the face of man and make long footstep{s}. I have given unto thee the sovereignty of the father Seb, and the goddess Mut, thy mother, who gave birth to the gods, brought thee forth as the first-born of five gods, and created thy beauties and fashioned thy members."
FROM: Mut Post

The principal female counterpart of Amen-Ra, the king of the gods, in the New Empire was Mut, whose name means "Mother." and in all her attributes we see that see was regarded as the great "world-mother." who conceived and brought forth whatsoever exists. The pictures of the goddess usually represent her in the form of a woman wearing on her head the united crowns of the South and of the North, and holding in her hands the papyrus scepter and the emblem of life. Elsewhere we see her in female form standing upright, with her arms, to which large wings are attached, stretched out full length at right angles to her body. She wears the united crowns, as before stated, but from each shoulder there projects the head of a vulture; one vulture wears the crown of the North, and the other two plumes, though sometimes each vulture head has upon it two plumes, which are probably those of Shu or Amen-Ra. In other pictures the goddess has the head of a women or man, a vulture, and a lioness, and she is provided with a phallus, and a pair of wings, and the claws of a lion or lioness. In the vignette of clxivth Chapter of Book of the Dead she is associated with the two dwarfs, each of whom has two faces, one of a hawk and one of a man, and each of whom has an arm lifted to support the symbol of the god Amsu or Min, and wears upon his head a disk and plumes. In the text which accompanies the vignette, though the three-headed goddess is distinctly called "Mut" in the Rubric, she is addressed as "Sekhet-Bast-Ra, a fact which accounts for the presence of the phallus and the male head on a women's body, and proves that Mut was believed to possess both the male and female attributes of reproduction.
FROM: Tour Egypt: Mut

This relates more to Amun's worship, but I think it's worth mentioning the God's Wives (of Amun) with Mut as in essence they are reinacting Mut and Amun's union and creations.
Here are some links and articles about the God's Wives:

Mwt is also the word for Vulture.
She's one of the Goddesses considered to be the Mother of the Pharaoh.
She is associated with a ceremony at the Ished tree with Re that slays apep/apophis.
The power of the Pharaoh is contained within Her breastmilk; the inundation can be seen as Her sweat.

She is known to appear aspected with Sekhmet, Bast and Ra - as Mut-Sekhmet-Bast-Ra or Sekhmet-Bast-Ra. Which has three heads (one lion, one human and one vulture) wings and an erect phallus. From a wide variety of egyptological texts and websites: need to sit down and write it all down at some point.

Vulture goddess who usurped the role of Amaunet in the Theban triad as consort of Amun and mother of Khons...Like Isis and Hathor she essentially played the role of divine mother to the reigning king; therefore many amulets representing Mut show her as a seated woman suckling a child, often only distinguishable as Mut rather than Isis because of the presence of a crown or an inscription...The Royal women holding the title of God's Wife of Amun were all portrayed with iconographic features linking them with Mut. She also however had a more agressive aspect as a feline goddess closely linked with Sekhmet, and many of the statues in her temple at Karnak represent her in this lioness-headed form...
Other books that discuss Mut:
H. de Meulenaere "Isi et Mout des mammisi" Studia Naster II ed. J. Quagebeur
H. te Velde, "The cat as sacred animal of the goddess Mut" Studies in Egyptian religion dedicated to Professor Jan Zandee ed. M. Heerma van Voss et al.
H. te Velde "Mut, the eye of Re", Akten Munchen, 1985 III, ed. S. Schoske.

This information derived fromThe Dictionary of Ancient Egypt by Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson, The British Museum.

I can add more later.
Z

Last edited by Zephyrstorm; June 26th, 2006 at 12:00 AM.

Each man performs his service to the Holy according to what he is, not according to what he is not; after all, the sacrifice must not surpass the proper measure of the worshiper. - Iamblichus

Sure, all the Netjeru are connected to each other in a way. They're all Names of the Divine.

In one of the links (FORMS OF MUT) it explains some other versions of Mut: Mut-Temt, Mut-Uatchet-Bast, and Mut-Sekhet-Bast-Menhit ...but nothing about Nut is mentioned.

I don't think Nut and Mut have direct links to each other because Mut was from the Thebian area and Nut from the Heliopolis (they even had seperate creation myths).
So they're connected, but not...if that makes sense.

Mut, my beloved Crone.

Mut, described accurately. Mut, the 'great' mother is the equivalent of the Crone identity in the Triple-goddess architecture. An ancient reference and association with the (primeval) waters firmly establishes her ability and capacity as a creatrix. In short, the ocean is her easiest access point, three Brown 'virgin' (table)eggs at the time of the 3rd Quarter, the ideal ritual. I am with her!